We've all read the horror stories: a new virus is crawling through the third-party stores, aiming to steal your personal information, identity, and first born child. More often than not, this type of malicious app is made possible because of one of the various root vulnerabilities that have been discovered throughout the various versions of Android.

X-Ray is a new app that lets you see exactly how vulnerable your device is by scanning it against several of these exploits, including RageAgainstTheCage, Gingerbreak, Mempodroid, Levitator, and a few more.

It's extremely easy to use: simply install it and run a scan. It will run through each exploit in a matter of minutes and display whether or not the device is vulnerable. Here's an example of the output I got on my Galaxy Nexus running CM9 RC2:

As you can see, the device is protected against all but one vulnerability (Mempodroid), which I assume will now be patched in the final version of CM9.

But what can be done with this information one you get it? Unfortunately, not much; especially for those still running stock software. In order to patch any exploits that the device may be vulnerable to, the carrier will have to send out an OTA update with a fix. What you can do with the information made available by this application, however, is have hard evidence that there is a security risk in your device and go to your carrier with the information. Whether or not they'll actually do something about it, though, is another story entirely. This will also help custom ROM cookers find the weak spots in their build to make a more secure ROM.

Ultimately, it's good to know what exploits, if any, your device is vulnerable to. The more you know, the easier it is to keep your device protected.